IOM is marking this year’s World TB Day by highlighting the critical importance of engaging in productive multi-sectoral partnerships to promote the health and well-being of migrants and mobile populations around the world, and help eliminate tuberculosis (TB).

With the theme ‘Unite to End TB’, this year’s World TB Day falls right in the middle of the current migrant "crisis" in Europe, and after the recent adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that in different ways have both brought migration to the forefront of the agenda of governments, international community and other stakeholders.

Despite the notable progress in achieving TB milestones worldwide, TB continues to be a global threat, with approximately six million new cases of TB and about 1.5 million deaths due to TB recorded in 2014. The TB burden also continues to be concentrated in developing and low income countries / regions with around 58 percent of cases occurring in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions followed by Africa. Many migrants are vulnerable to TB disease due to irregular health access, exposure to precarious trans-border situation and poor living conditions.

IOM is therefore calling on all responsible constituencies, including governmental, non-governmental, community groups, international organizations and donors to take collective responsibility to decisively tackle the challenges faced by migrants and mobile populations in the fight to eradicate TB.

“As we mark World TB Day, it is very encouraging to see that the End TB strategy and the World Health Assembly resolution that led up to it, addresses migration, calls for adaptation at country level and collaboration with the migration sector. It places patients and communities at the heart of the response. However, in implementing this strategy, it is crucial to ensure that migrants are not left behind,” said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.

Ambassador Swing also took the opportunity to highlight growing evidence and understanding that social and economic inequalities sustain migrants’ vulnerability to TB, as do discriminatory policies in non-health sectors such as immigration, labour and social protection. Other notable social barriers including language barriers, cultural beliefs, stigma-related fear, lack of awareness to entitlements, low health-related spending capacity, and migrant-unfriendly health service also all lead to reluctance in seeking care or adhering to treatment.

According to Dr. Davide Mosca, Director of IOM’s Migrant Health Division, there remain huge gaps in the access of migrants and mobile populations to timely screening, treatment and continuity of care, often with collapsed or extremely challenged health systems in chronic conflicts or acute emergencies.

“The targets of the Global Plan to End TB 2016-2020 that aim to reach 90 percent of the key populations among 90 percent of the world’s population with TB and realizing 90 percent treatment success cannot be achieved without addressing migration health issues,” said Dr. Mosca. “Public perceptions on migrants should be improved, and health of migrants addressed as an integral theme in the dialogue on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), health and human development,” he added.

More information and materials about IOM’s efforts on TB and migration can be found here.

The closure of part of the migrant camp in Calais this week has led to unfortunate violence which puts migrants and refugees at further risk and complicates progress toward a sustainable solution, IOM warned today.

IOM views the situation in Calais with concern and urges that immediate measures be taken to protect the most vulnerable migrants and refugees, including women and children in and around the camps, who are at particular risk of being trafficked.

IOM appeals to authorities and to the migrants themselves to refrain from the use of violence, which risks exacerbating existing tensions and lack of trust between the authorities and the migrants.

“The violence and breakdown of order in Calais is very worrying. A dignified, longer-term solution to the situation is needed,” said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.

“Measures to handle the situation in Calais should be taken with utmost care, while efforts to protect and provide viable alternatives for the affected migrants should be stepped up,” he stressed.

The strengthening of information provision and independent counseling is needed for migrants and asylum seekers in the settlements, who currently see no alternative but to continue to the UK. Cultural mediation and confidence-building between authorities and migrants are needed to overcome the impasse.

IOM believes that it would be in the interest of migrants to take advantage of improved official arrangements for reception, identification, registration, and asylum processing.

At the same time IOM calls on the authorities to enhance and accelerate the reunification of family members residing in the UK, particularly for unaccompanied migrant children.

IOM is convinced that actions taken with the migrants’ individual circumstances factored into the response can defuse tensions, increase cooperation, and decrease the risk that further informal settlements will be erected.

Broader, longer-term measures to address the wider phenomenon of migrant and refugee flows to Europe in a humane and coherent manner must also be part of the solution.

Eugenio Ambrosi, IOM Regional Director for the EU, Norway and Switzerland, cautioned that the current situation in Calais is another reminder that the lack of a comprehensive and united approach to migration will lead to the perpetuation of similar, unresolved problems.

“First and foremost, European countries need to consider the provision of increased and durable international protection for the majority of those arriving in the EU. The improvement of adequate legal routes to enter the EU in a safe and dignified way needs to be urgently addressed, and in the case of Calais, legal options to gain protection, reside or travel onward are the most important, especially for minors and those separated from their families,” he said.

The southern part of the Calais camp being dismantled has impacted 800 to 3,500 men, women and children, according to estimates which vary between local authorities and NGOs.

An estimated 10-20 percent of the migrants in Calais are children, either with family or unaccompanied. This includes 300 unaccompanied minors, according to local NGOs. In the northern part of the camp, 1,000 to 3,000 people are still living in tents.

French authorities are asking migrants to relocate to a temporary reception center in Calais that can house 1,500 people and where 200 places are still available, or to one of the 102 available temporary reception and referral centers across France.

According to local authorities, over 2,800 persons have been relocated from Calais to other French towns since October 2015, but between 15-20 percent of these have returned to Calais.

Many of the migrants now in Calais come from Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. There are also significant numbers of people from sub-Saharan Africa.

Migration is one of the key realities of our time. It cuts across communities, influences priorities, and shapes societies.
To realise the benefits of migration for migrants and host communities alike, our responses must be innovative, collaborative and designed beyond the immediate.